Page "Ahab" Paragraph 6

Ahab's contribution was reckoned at 2, 000 chariots and 10, 000 men.

In reality, however, the number of chariots in Ahab's forces was probably closer to number in the hundreds ( this due to archaeological excavations of the area and the foundations of stables that had been found ).

If, however, the numbers are referring to allies it could possibly include forces from Tyre, Judah, Edom, and Moab.

The Assyrian king claimed a victory, but his immediate return and subsequent expeditions in 849 BC and 846 BC against a similar but unspecified coalition seem to show that he met with no lasting success.

According to the Tanakh, however, Ahab with 7, 000 troops had previously overthrown Ben-hadad and his thirty-two kings, who had come to lay siege to Samaria, and in the following year obtained a decisive victory over him at Aphek, probably in the plain of Sharon at Antipatris ( 1 Kings 20 ).

A treaty was made whereby Ben-hadad restored the cities which his father had taken from Ahab's father ( that is, Omri, but see 15: 20, 2 Kings 13: 25 ), and trading facilities between Damascus and Samaria were granted.